Shiv Kapur reaped the benefits of staying patient as he birdied three times in last five holes to close the gap between him and the leader at the end of the third day of Royal Cup here.
Kapur, who is the defending champion, started the day six behind leader Justin Harding (71) but finished two adrift, as he carded 3-under 67. Kapur is now second and 9-under 201 to Harding's 11-under 199.
Gaganjeet Bhullar also made a move up into the Top-10 as he registered 1-under 69 to get to 5-under 205 and was tied at 9th place. Bhullar had one birdie and 17 pars.
Among other Indians, Viraj Madappa (69) is 2-under and T-24, while Honey Baisoya (72) and S Chikkarangappa (67) are 1-under and T-30. Himmat Rai (70) and Khalin Joshi (71) are even par through 54 holes and T-38th and Rashid Khan (72) is 4-over and T-63.
Early this morning when the second round was completed, Chiragh Kumar, Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa missed the cut.
Kapur, speaking on the third round and the conditions said, "It was just one of those days where you stay patient when the conditions are tough and you get rewarded."
"It was a pretty good round, conditions were tough with swirly winds and moving in a different direction from the past two rounds. The greens got firmer and it was tough to hold the ball on the greens and tougher to hole putts."
"I am happy with the way I finished since all the action happened for me on the last five holes."
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